The present invention relates to a stay member for tire chains, especially protective tire chains, comprising a base member which includes a base portion with a tire contact surface and at least one connecting opening for receiving preferably annular connecting members, and further comprising a wear portion having a wear surface and lateral surfaces and projecting at least partly past the base portion. The wear portion has depressions in the lateral surfaces and/or in the wear surface.
In a known stay member of this kind (European patent application 03 02 815) the wear portion which is wider than the base portion is provided at its lateral sides with depressions arranged in series one after another and opening into the wear surface. The wear surface itself has at half its width circular depressions arranged spaced to one another. The lateral sides of the wear portion extend parallel to one another and to the longitudinal center plane of the stay member. This results in the risk that, when assembled in a tire chain, at respective pulling loads of the tire chain the stay members can rest or come into contact with one another such that the annular members connected therein will come in touch with one another or overlap. When driving on the tire chain, the annular members can be damaged or can break. Furthermore, the stay member has the disadvantage that the depressions within the wear surface reduce the stability of the wear portion and with increasing wear there is the risk that the wear portion will break.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to embody a stay member of this kind such that a long service life of the tire chain comprising of the stay members is ensured.